O’MALLEYS CONTINUE TALKS TO BUY PADRES

Members of the O’Malley group toured Petco Park with Padres majority owner John Moores during Friday night’s game against Seattle and continued Saturday to negotiate the purchase of the club.

“We have been asked not to comment at this time and have agreed to respect the confidentiality of the process,” said Kevin O’Malley, one of the four principal members of the group that traces its heritage to former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley.

But sources say the O’Malley group is the leading candidate to buy the Padres with hopes of having an agreement by the All-Star break in about two weeks.

The O’Malleys would like to have an agreement in place by then to give them three weeks to study the club before the trading deadline at the end of July.

“I think the O’Malleys are already looking beyond the books and studying the product on the field,” said a source. “They know if they are selected as the next owners by Moores, Major League Baseball will welcome them back.

“The approval could come quickly, which would allow them to immediately start planning for the future,” the source said.

Another source late Friday night said the O’Malley group’s former ties to the Dodgers could serve them in the purchase of the Padres.

“All things being equal, if the O’Malleys are there on the price they will own the Padres,” said the source. “Moores knows the O’Malleys would be welcomed by Major League Baseball.”

Although the O’Malleys were being supported by backers from South Korea when they bid last year to regain control of the Dodgers, a source said the approximately $800 million needed to purchase the Padres was being raised in Southern California, including San Diego County.

Hall of Fame golfer Phil Mickelson is known to be an investor in the O’Malley group. A source also identified San Diego businessman Ron Fowler — who was also a member of the Jeff Moorad group that whose bid never got to the final approval stage — as part of the O’Malley group.

It is not known if other members of the Moorad group are involved with the O’Malleys. Moorad is not.

The O’Malleys are one of two known groups still actively negotiating with Moores. The other potential owner is Orange County mobile communications magnate Gary Jabara.

Peter O’Malley is the former longtime owner of the Dodgers and the son of Walter O’Malley, who brought the Dodgers to Los Angeles from Brooklyn. The O’Malley group includes Peter’s sons Kevin and Brian, and his nephews Peter and Tom Seidler, the sons of his sister.

Both the O’Malley group and Jabara have made detailed studies of the Padres’ records and reportedly have discussed the financial details of a possible purchase with Moores, who owns 51 percent of the club. The other 49 percent is owned by the group headed by Moorad, who purchased the Padres in 2009 on a “lay-away” agreement in the neighborhood of $575 million.

But Moorad’s ownership proposal never got to a full vote. After Moorad resigned as Padres CEO, Moores put the club back on the market — although the price has reportedly climbed to around $800 million due in part to the 20-year television agreement with Fox Sports San Diego.

Jabara is the CEO of Mobilite and is an officer with several other communications companies. Mobilite specializes in cell towers and fiber-optic networks.